{"id":1527,"date":"2012-09-25T01:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=1527"},"modified":"2014-12-30T00:52:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T05:52:18","slug":"pink-antique-lace-daygown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/25\/pink-antique-lace-daygown\/","title":{"rendered":"Pink Antique Lace Daygown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ant<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I love antique laces.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the extra detail in the pattern, the unusual colors, the history of previous owners and previous uses about which I speculate while I am sewing.<\/p>\n

I love this daygown.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the materials, the techniques, the details that I so enjoyed adding and the daydreams I\u00c2\u00a0entertained while\u00c2\u00a0fantasizing about\u00c2\u00a0grandchildren in my future.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Can you tell I love heirloom sewing?<\/p>\n

Yet again, this is\u00c2\u00a0not a modern project for an old fashioned Nana.\u00c2\u00a0 I needed grandchildren before I realized the importance of easy care.<\/p>\n

Through the years, I have sniffed out some incredible finds.\u00c2\u00a0 This lace was one of them.\u00c2\u00a0 At the end of this post, I will tell you about how I became the final owner of this unused, antique lace.<\/p>\n

Using some pink silk floss, I smocked a simple pattern on a yoked daygown made of\u00c2\u00a0 Capitol Imports gorgeous champagne Swiss batiste.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ant<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just as lovely is their champagne entredeux\u00c2\u00a0which is\u00c2\u00a0inserted between the sleeves and bodice.\u00c2\u00a0 When I have the time, I prefer to use this technique on\u00c2\u00a0heirloom sewn \u00c2\u00a0garments.\u00c2\u00a0 When this was made, neither of my children was even married, so I had time.\u00c2\u00a0 As a matter of fact, I had 10 years.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0What a long wait!!!!<\/p>\n

Another technique that I love is hemstitching.\u00c2\u00a0 On the collar, machine made entredeux was stitched on the seam line.\u00c2\u00a0 Aside from each single large hole, made by as many as 13 punctures with\u00c2\u00a0a wing or large\u00c2\u00a0needle, prominent perimeter holes are made as the needle\u00c2\u00a0 reaches outside the main hole to secure the stitch.<\/p>\n

These holes were used to\u00c2\u00a0execute a perfectly spaced hand worked running stitch above the\u00c2\u00a0machine made entredeux.\u00c2\u00a0 Had the holes not been threaded with floss, they would have disappeared with water or starch, applied\u00c2\u00a0in anticipation of pressing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ant<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another sweet detail of this gown is the buttons.\u00c2\u00a0 They were purchased at a doll show and many, many times\u00c2\u00a0 since I have regretted not buying the lot.\u00c2\u00a0 They are actually tiny rings, covered with fabric.\u00c2\u00a0 So\u00c2\u00a0embroidering on them was possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"antiquepinklacedaygownoutfclosebrite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since they are barely 1\/4″, I\u00c2\u00a0found it very difficult to hold the button and still work a few French knots.\u00c2\u00a0 My\u00c2\u00a0wise RN\u00c2\u00a0friend Suzanne suggested I use hemostats to hold the button.\u00c2\u00a0 This\u00c2\u00a0 tool is like a scissor handle with a tweezer\u00c2\u00a0 tip.\u00c2\u00a0 But it locks.\u00c2\u00a0 So\u00c2\u00a0I was able to\u00c2\u00a0use a sewing bird to hold the hemostat and then work\u00c2\u00a0single thread French knots and\u00c2\u00a0lazy daisy leaves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Laurel, 7 months<\/p><\/div>\n

Sadly, these buttons have not held up very well.\u00c2\u00a0 With minimal use, they have frayed.\u00c2\u00a0 But until they get a little shabbier, I prefer them to \u00c2\u00a0standard pearl buttons.<\/p>\n

They have held up better than the matching bonnet.\u00c2\u00a0In the center of my kitchen table, stashed safely (I thought) in a tall trifle dish awaiting hand laundering the next day, it was snatched from its secure haven and shredded by one or both of my two yellow lab pups.<\/p>\n

I almost cried.\u00c2\u00a0 All the pink lace had been used up so\u00c2\u00a0making a replacement is out of the\u00c2\u00a0question.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh well……\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In case you wonder, Ruby and Rastus, the puppies, survived the verbal\u00c2\u00a0thrashing I gave them.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Their eyes showed great remorse and they ate hardly any other treasures after that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"L<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let me tell you about the lace.\u00c2\u00a0 In an antique store across from my doctor’s office, I was killing time while he tended to an emergency.\u00c2\u00a0 As his office is an hour from my home, I decided to check out the shop that had caught my eye so many times.<\/p>\n

After a serious search, I\u00c2\u00a0 found a neat old pink birdcage<\/a>, which now hangs in my potting shed and charms me every time I look at it.\u00c2\u00a0 But I just had the twitchy feeling that there was more.\u00c2\u00a0Or maybe there was still too much time before the doctor returned to his office.<\/p>\n

At any rate, \u00c2\u00a0I looked and looked and snooped and finally, in a tattered old hatbox, I found a\u00c2\u00a0hank of this lace.\u00c2\u00a0 The disinterested shop keeper had been unaware of the contents of the box and quoted me an offhand price of $1 for “the pink string.”\u00c2\u00a0 I took my pink birdcage and my pink string\u00c2\u00a0and headed for my car.\u00c2\u00a0 For that doctor appointment, I didn’t mind\u00c2\u00a0running \u00c2\u00a0late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I love antique laces.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the extra detail in the pattern, the unusual colors, the history of previous owners and previous uses about which I speculate while I am sewing. I love this daygown.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the materials, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,25,28,5,24],"tags":[449,248,448,1059],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1527"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32571,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions\/32571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}